Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1887-01-20
FARMERS INSTITUTE F.!
The Farmers HOrse---His Care and
Treatment
Papers Read Before the Belmont Co
Farmers Institute, st Clairsville,
January 9th, 1887.
[PAPERBYO o W.-PATTERsoN, Mt. PLEAS
ANT o.

dlSLOTlSS OF d1I ages lmpT6SS US Will
he fact, that the horse has ever held
The first position, as friend and
companion of man. His uame has been
IGNORED by the genius of every cline.
Grea. sculptors have claimed him tor a
model and rare paintings, portray biz
noble beauty. In him the poet tnds I'll
theme for song, and
Whatever his place, the yoke or the chase,
The battlefield, road or course,
One of creations brightest and best,
Is the horse, the noble horse.
The important position he occupies In
agriculture economy both as regards his
actual usefulness and from financial
standpoint, demand for him prominen;
place in our consideration. 10 this age
of rapid advancement, mechanical in
ventiun has done much to tighten the
labor of the farmer, but frequently. a
new demand for horse power, is at the
same time created. New times demand
new measures and new men," and no
less new type uf horses. The HOO 10.
animal Is deficient in power t. meet the
demands now made of him. That vast
Improvement has been made in the past
few years is needless to remark. In ex-
change for our millions the old world
has given US of her choice treasures.
The PerchtroD, the pride of France is at
home among US. Our great draft shows
rival in excellence those in the valley of
the CLYDE Yet, few who have actually
tried the experiment will claim these
ponderous animals to be the ideal far
mer's horse ;on the other hand, the blood
that works the racer game, when har>
messed to load chafes under the re-
straint.' have followed the plow of
both the imported draft and the stand
ard bred trotter. With the heavy horse,
although as active one of the kind a
sufficient amount of work could not br
performed in given time. Tie diff
Guilty in the latter case was that bad
to do too much work in given time.
It is evident that neither of the two
classes mentioned is the general purpose
horse of the farm.
Many of the half blood drafts are
grand good horses, and the breeding OF
them for city markets is profitable in
dustry, but in most leases they lack the
action required by the busy American
farmer of the present day, and are poor
~ adapted to carriage use or the saddle,
aud generally the farm horse must re-
spopd to the demands of this character;
II is therefore highly necessary that he
possess in a fair degree, both action
and style. These qualities. combined
with weight and power are more per
fectfy developed In the Cleveland Bay
than any other family of horses. A
team of this kind, weighing 1900 or 2700
with a bold frictiopless action can rsad
ily draw reaper at The rate of five
miles an hour. or carriage double the
distance, aud when ready for market no
class of horses demand better prices; a
sinale pair of coachers will bring a buy
er from New York city. And, rs both
his money value and future usefulness
depend largely On his care and treat
ment while growing colt, The best
methods Of raising and training him are
certainly important. His education
should begin about the first time you
sse him. aud for few days may be limt
tied to teaching him the fact, that next
10 his mother, his owner is his best
friend. The halter is next in order !;
run a year without seeing a strap aid
when tied up give no trouble whatever.
"A little tree is easily trimmed" The
lessons earliest learned, you know, are
the last forgotten, and colts are not ss
unlike human babies, as some might
suppose. Ali things considered. the
best time to wean the colt, is at the age
of six mOnths:-by this time be will
nave learned to eat grain and can still
have some advantage of the pasture be-
fore winter, and now begins the most
critical period in the whole life of the
colt; what is lost by neglect during the
first winter can asver be regained. They
should be stabbed at night in clean COM
Portable sheds or box stall. Ii not too
stormy or dangerously icy run in the
pasture during the day is desirable. The
system requires those bits OF grass
found here and there, and the muscles
the exercise in finding them. A wisely
selected variety of food is necessary to
the best developement of all animals
the horse is no exception. Experiment
has proven that corn is not suitable
food for the growing colt. Take two of
them possessing frames alike and bones
of the same size-feed the one his ration
of oats, of the other let his principal
food be corn; As they mature. the mus
cular developement, alert manner and
clean fiat bone of the one, will form a
contrast to the heavy tabby ap-
pearance and smaller meaty bone of the
corn fed horse.
No amount of feeding will make a
poorly bred colt q well bred one. But
an intelligent understanding, as regards
quality and quantity of food
will work wonders. Perhaps il is not
vet too late to make that scrawny
pOverty-strickeD, broken hearted, baby
horse out in the back pasture. pay you
a fair return for his board or stake oats.
He has been standing 30 much with his
back TO the storms that his hair actually
grows the wrong way. AT present one
sees no striking resemblance between
him and the grand old steed spoken of
in the scriptures, whose neck is clothed
with thunder, the glory of whose nos.
trlls is terrible. But There's the mar
BILE, there's the chisel, take them work
them, to thy will" OF literally translated
there is the running gears of your future
horse and here js your oats bin, not
far apart you will ebserve-and you pos
sess the power by proper feeding and
judicious care to develop this miniature
horse into good useful animal. or Oh
the other hand into vicious indiffer-
ent one. 1t is claimed by some that the
racks for feeding colts should be high,
for the reason that in reaching up 50
for food, high carriage
will be cultivated. This is nOnesersr.
Had An ALL wise creator anticipated this
as necessity, in order that the creation
of his hands might be perfect. the mats
ural food of the horse would grow at
the proper elevation instead of on the
ground. We must breed our horses
heads up. but the nearer the ground
they are fed, as nature intended the bet.
ter. Keep your colts gentle and fsmil
lar with the uses of the halter. During
the winter before he reaches his three
year old form, we think the best time